Joe Biden returned to Wisconsin on Tuesday night to participate in his first town hall as president at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee.
Biden discussed his administration’s plan to administer additional doses of COVID vaccines, his commitment to passing a third COVID-19 relief bill and his plan to get children back into schools, amongst other issues. Biden has a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that was released to Congress last week, which the Senate is expected to turn to the package now that former President Trump’s impeachment is over.
The plan projects that 600 million coronavirus vaccines would be available in the United States by the end of July, a claim Biden reiterated Tuesday night.
“We will have enough to vaccinate every single American," Biden said. “We have made significant strides increasing the number of vaccinators, have over a thousand military personnel, have gotten the National Guard engaged, plus we have opened up a considerable amount of locations where you can get the vaccine."
Biden also came out strong in favor of providing economic relief as soon as possible, and addressing racial injustice including the equitable treatment and vaccination of all Americans from COVID-19.
"The biggest part of this is physical access," Biden said. “It is a priority for us.”
His plan includes sending a million vaccines a week to community centers that care for the "toughest of the toughest neighborhoods in terms of illness" moving forward, among other strategies.
The issue of former President Trump’s impeachment acquittal, and the possibility of criminal charges being pursued against him also came up in the town hall.
Biden said that the decision to prosecute the former President would be left up to the Justice Department, without his input.
“One of the most serious pieces of damage done by the last administration was the politicizing of the Justice Department,” Biden said. “I made a commitment — [the Justice Department] is not mine, it's [up to] the people's Justice Department who they should and should not prosecute. Their prosecutorial decisions will be left to the Justice Department, not me.”
